CDOIQ Nordic Symposium Brought Data and Business Leaders Together to Reflect on the Future of AI and Leadership

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:18:00 +0200
Aalto Leaders' Insight, Digitalization, Leadership, Design Thinking, Aalto EE Finland

The second-ever CDOIQ Nordic Symposium concluded that data is at the core of any meaningful AI adoption.

Aalto EE brought the world-renowned symposium to the Nordics for the second time.

Truly global event brought together business and data leaders from industries, government, and academia to join in for thought-provoking conversations and collaboration in Finland.

The theme of the conference was Value from Data for Business and Society.

The CDOIQ Nordic Symposium was now organized for the second time in Finland by Aalto EE. The symposium brought together around 200 leaders and professionals addressing hot AI and data questions in 2026.

Aalto EE's AI and Digitalization Director Reetta Ruusunen welcomed the guests and invited the participants to reflect on three questions: What decisions in my organization truly benefit from data and AI, and which require more human judgment? Where does responsibility sit when machines influence outcomes, and what capabilities do leaders need next?

“If you engage with these questions openly, this symposium will be far more than a conference. It will be a catalyst,” she promised.

The main keynotes of the event were offered by Carl-Johan Nakamura, Co-Founder and CEO at AI81Works, Janak Joshi, Chief Digital Officer, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Senior Strategy Technology & M&A Advisor, Covernance Group, and Alberto Giovanni Busetto, Founder and Managing Partner, Oⁿ Venture Studio (Switzerland).

The three program tracks offered participants a range of keynotes and panel discussions on topics such as scaling data and AI in hypergrowth companies, bridging the gap between strategy and execution, and exploring the opportunities, challenges, and human factor in becoming truly data-driven.

Rationalizing the AI noise

Carl-Johan Nakamura kickstarted the symposium with a keynote speech on what truly matters: business-driven AI, smarter information, data-literate boards, and transformation that’s 81% human.

The inspiring keynote culminated in a black room exercise.

Solving AI ROI Crisis through Human + Agent Orchestration

Janak Joshi reminded us that AI is the fastest-growing technology in history. The internet initially served as a static repository of information before evolving into an interactive ecosystem. AI is already interactive, learning from user inputs and adapting in real time, accelerating evolution even further.

He also described an interesting paradox: the ROI of AI cannot be calculated in a spreadsheet, yet people are now asking AI to calculate the ROI of AI.

Global perspectives

Alberto Giovanni Bussetto, Salla Kuula, Head of AI and Data at Finnair, and Terhi Markkanen, Head of R&D Data and Analytics at KONE, discussed in the panel bringing the gap between strategy and execution. Discussion was hosted by Carl-Johan Nakamura.

Looking for insights from CDOs

Turo Välikangas is Head of Digitalization at Koja Oy. At the event, he was particularly interested in data-driven leadership and creating data products. The CDOs’ presentations from product companies were especially compelling.

Building a trustworthy AI

Kaisa Salakka, Co-founder at Otherkind, a new Illusian initiative, said that the winners will be those who build the most trustworthy systems around AI. For example, you need to know whether you’re communicating with a bot or a human. Privacy and data protection must be maintained at the highest level.

Great discussions don’t end on the stage

Insightful conversations continued during the breaks and after the official program.